Chapter 0556: Crimson Knight-General

In the cold, sooty-black darkness stood an altar-shaped structure. A single person was sitting on top of it in the lotus position.

The person was clad in crimson armor that looked wet, as though it had been freshly dipped in blood. He was merely sitting there, and yet he exuded a presence that would make any passers-by shudder with fear, though they would not be able to explain it. The void around him wavered and flickered.

A pair of cold eyes opened underneath the crimson helm.

In anger.

"Worthless thing!" he roared to the skies, heating up the worldly natural energy around him.

"Years of planning! Damn it! Wretched Academic Federation!" The crimson knight-general's voice trembled with fury. He could feel his formation at the Thunderpeal Tree undone. It had regained sentience.

All of his careful planning, his various methods to poison the tree, undermine its reason, and finally disable it with corruption.

It had all come falling down like a house of cards.

He longed to leave his base and roam the lands, cutting down the bastard students where they stood.

But he resisted it.

It was not time yet. Besides, those little bastards would eventually come to him.

"The Academic Federation is cunning. Are they using the Red Clay Province as a testing ground for the Holy Grail Meet? Do they plan on letting their finest students cleanse this area?" the crimson knight-general muttered to himself, eyes gleaming malevolently.

"But they can only send students... which means that their forces are stretched thin as well. The schools cannot properly support the Blackwind Empire. The situation here is not something that a few ordinary Dukes can deal with... unless a King comes. Hmph. As if they could easily summon a King. Such experts are few and far between in the East Divine Continent, and they are all weighed down by their own burdens. As if they could spare the time to come here!

"Alright then, since these schools want to kill their elites, I'll oblige. I'll make you hurt."

He stood up decisively and made his way to the door, which he flung open.

A ray of faint light streamed in. The crimson knight-general walked out to stand on top of a tall tower. From his vantage point, he could see many buildings that covered the land in a much wider scale than Riverguard City.

There was only one city of this scale in the Red Clay Province, and it was none other than Russet Rock City.

But what was surprising about this city was that it was not broken down like Riverguard City. Russet Rock City was well-preserved, and its red walls stood tall like giants protecting the city.

What was even more shocking was that the city was teeming with people, moving along the streets about their business as far as the crimson knight-general's eye could see. The place looked to be in the height of prosperity, unchanged from how it once was.

"What an illusion," the crimson knight-general marveled, shaking his head. "Truly lifelike. Even an Earth Fiend would lose themselves within it."

Even he, who knew for sure that it was an illusion, could not shake off the feeling of realism. Every last detail was perfect, tempting you to reach forward to touch it and confirm the illusion for yourself again and again.

The illusion before him was crafted by the one above him.

The crimson knight-general looked now to the crimson barrier at the center of the entire city. It was opaque, but he had the power to look within.

Within the crimson light was a demonic woman, curled up comfortably like a fox. She was extremely beautiful, and one would easily get lost in her eyes, which were closed at the moment. Even so, there was something otherworldly about her, an alien allure that roused something hot and urgent within any who looked upon her. But not the crimson knight-general. His eyes were firmly fixed on the large, reddish-brown tail that was coiled behind her.

If one looked closely, one would see that the tail continued to seep blood, and the red hair that seemed to fall softly along the tail was actually as sharp as needles.

From up close, tormented screams came from the blood-red tail.

The crimson knight-general could not take his eyes off it. He knew that every last hair on it was crafted from a human sacrifice. This thing had taken a long time to finish off the million people that had lived in this city.

A ghastly deed.

The crimson knight-general stared and stared, until a vapid, greedy expression spread across his face. He chuckled to himself.

He had to claim credit for this horrific masterpiece as well.

"After all these years, I've finally nurtured it to strength... and yet these Others are really animals. It’s started to plot against me as well in the last two years, pfft.

"The Academic Federation's interference will be a great opportunity."

When the students came, they would fight it, and it would be a close fight either way. He could easily mop up the remains then.

"It's time to harvest the fruits... soon.

"It’s a pity that the Thunderpeal Tree plan didn't work out," he muttered regretfully to himself again. "But no matter... once I repel the Academic Federation's nosy, little brats, I can go back to deal with it again."

The crimson knight-general laughed to himself again, then he put his hands together and made a sign. On one of his fingers was a dark-red ring with a black eye with a white iris carved on it. "The genesis of light and dark are one, good and evil cease as one," the crimson knight-general murmured.

And then he laughed again maniacally.

"And at the moment they cease, I rise."